Quick Takes about the Big Apple

1. Last year my grad school class took a field trip to see the "Americana Week" antiques shows in New York. It was so much fun that this year several of my classmates and I planned a mini-reunion redux of the adventure. This time, instead of the Times Square Hampton Inn, we all crashed on the living room floor of H's tiny Upper East Side 5th floor walkup. (For the record, I did not have to subsist on salad this year. Thank goodness.)
2. Of course, it ended up being the snowiest weekend of the year, but wind and slush did not deter us from dec arts. We have been trained well. 





The view outside when we woke up on Saturday. 



3. All 5 of us wore some variation of "gray sweater dress/tights/boots" for our 4 exhibition journey. I swear this was an accident. 
4. There were tons of little kids running around in puffy coats, grabbing hunks of snow off the sidewalks. Since I am a child of the suburbs, I always wonder about kids in New York. Does an urban upbringing make you fearless? Do you remember those early years spent bundled up in a stroller behind a plastic shield? 
5. The newly-renovated New York Historical Society has a great kids' section. You can write newspaper headlines, record yourself speechifying, look at different boroughs through a viewmaster thingy, and get inaugurated as the first president. Oh, and there is a newsies touch-screen game. I owned at selling those papes. 





I also ran into the Marx Brothers



6. Here's a tip, kids: do NOT attempt to check a suitcase at The Met, even if you are just running through the Islamic galleries on your way to catch the Megabus. Their security guards are well-trained to think luggage = art thief/terrorist. They will politely, but firmly tell you to get lost. Even if they just watched you schlep said suitcase up two flights of stairs to the entrance. 
7. Speaking of suitcases, they are also totally impractical on the stair-laden subway.  After riding on public transportation in both New York and DC, I have decided that the subway is definitely superior to the Metro. (As if there were any question, amirite Washingtonians?)
   DC Metro advantages: Escalators, stations that don't feel claustrophobic, cleanliness, very little graffiti, colored lines with names and directions that quickly make sense on a map to the uninitiated. 
   NY Subway advantages: Express trains, an abundance of track options, flat rate for each ride, not needing to scan a card to exit, lack of easily broken escalators, MOSAICS. 

For more quick takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary.

Christian knock-offs?

1 En 8, from Louboutin's fall collection. 

Have you heard about the designer shoe lawsuit in court right now? Christian Louboutin wants to trademark the signature "China-red" soles of his high heels. Yves St. Laurent recently made an all-red shoe with red soles, and insists that designers should be free to use whatever colors they want.

Personally, I think the all-red YSL shoe is not a big deal, but overall I side with Louboutin since the red soles look cool. If Tiffany's can have a signature blue, why not a signature shade of red? This case has major implications for issues of intellectual property and creative licensing blah blah blah. It's also an excuse for editorials with terrible puns and footnoted legal references to Sex and the City 2.

Recently I discovered some designer knock-offs that made me say "Whhhhaaaa?" They weren't at Forever 21, they were in a religious goods catalog. That's right ladies, you can now buy designer Jesus totes for your next Bible study meeting.

Louis Vuitton becomes "Love"

Gucci becomes "God"

And, my personal favorite for preposterousness...

Juicy Couture becomes "Jesus Christ Born to Save"

There's also a spoof of Tiffany's and a Fendi/Faith pattern. All images are from Autom.com, a generally reputable Catholic wholesaler.

Are these fooling anyone? Are the sellers in on the joke? Whom are these for? Would you buy one of these? 

I just....I dunno. It might make the women in your fellowship group chuckle, but anywhere else you would just look like a poser with a cheaply made bag. 

Sure, Christian parodies of corporate logos are nothing new. "Lord's Gym" tshirts have been around since I was a kid. Today you can also get "Faithbook," "Jesus/Reese's," and "God is my [Guitar] Hero." Some college friends and I once dreamed up an ill-fated Gatorade spoof design for "The Eucharist: Is it In You?"

I feel like such things are a fun inside joke for youth group meetings or service trips, but they won't actually "engage THE CULTURE," as they say. Christians are capable of brilliant satire and beautiful design. Let's not settle for cheap imitations of frivolous consumerism. Juicy Couture has a flagship store a block down from St. Patrick's Cathedral, and I think it's clear which landmark will endure longer. 

7 Quick Takes Volume 16

--- 1 ---

Total "Ladies of Finance" workouts I have attended this week: 3. My legs are sore, but I feel accomplished. Maybe our resolution will last into February ;-)

--- 2 ---

My family has been reading and discussing Gary Smalley's book Making Love Last Forever and the personality profile quiz in it. Now I can't help analyzing whether people I meet are assertive "lions" (choleric/Type A), playful "otters" (sanguine/extrovert), conflict averse "golden retrievers" (plegmatic), or hardworking and precise "beavers" (sort of melancholic, IS in Myers-Briggs). (I am almost an even split between lion/GR/beaver, apparently.) Has anyone else read this book? Did you find it helpful?

--- 3 ---

Lately I've become a big fan of Get Religion, which does a great job of discussing media coverage of religious topics. It's refreshingly astute. There's not incessant whining or Christian infighting about politics. Instead, there's an appeal for journalistic excellence and accurate definition of terms. It's almost like Fr. Z and John Stewart collaborating. Check it out.

--- 4 ---

My hot wings project was fairly successful. Baked wings with Frank's Red Hot were of course not as crispily delicious as those fried in a restaurant. On a whim, I also tried a dry spice rub too that turned out to be a huge hit! Now I want to put that smoky/sweet/savory blend on every meat in my Mom's freezer.

I wish LSU's plays had been as good as all the food we ate. 

--- 5 ---

If you'd rather look at pictures of historic things than my dinner, I just posted a recap of last year's field trips on my museum blog.

Sofa and inlaid table in the White House Red Room

--- 6 ---

A former executive at my company just dropped by for a meeting, and everyone just lit up when they saw him. He's definitely one of the most considerate, well-grounded, kind people I have ever met - a true example of Christ's love. That's the kind of witness this introvert needs to work on.

--- 7 ---

I still prefer Blogger for its simpler menu, but I'm glad it's been introducing some of Wordpress' features. Now you can reply to comments in a thread! (Why was this not a no-brainer?) I love hearing from readers, and I'm glad this will help me respond to your comments effectively.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

And All Flesh Shall See It Together

The Nativity scene at my parish church, Christmas 2011. Note legit swaddling on baby Jesus. 

Happy Feast of the Epiphany! May the glory of the Lord be revealed in each of your lives this year.

New Year, New Quick Takes

--- 1 ---

Practically everyone in New Orleans celebrated 2012 by setting off tons of fireworks in their driveways and backyards. I approve - it's like 4th of July in 360 stereo.

--- 2 ---

An example of why The Beau and I are a perfect match: he suggested we spend an entire day in the French Quarter...touring a 1740s convent and two historic houses. He saved me from dec arts withdrawal.

Taking photos of the 1830s Hermann-Grima House courtyard, with a n EWTN photobomb appearence. 

As an added bonus, a minor Catholic celebrity was on our last tour.
"Hey, doesn't that guy look like EWTN news anchor Raymond Arroyo?....OMG IT IS Raymond Arroyo!!" I'd recognize that distinctive diction anywhere. (Once upon a time, I wanted to be him when I grew up and get the best seat for papal events.) He and his wife were very nice and commiserated with The Beau about being NOLA expats.

--- 4 ---

Since I graduated from college I've become obsessed with hot wings. Blame it on that one karaoke night in a south city St. Louis dive bar. I'm going to attempt a baked version on Monday for the BCS championship. (Geaux Tigers!)

--- 5 ---

Elsewhere in the kitchen, my family just bought an electric juicer, one of the most fun toys ever. We tried it yesterday and went nuts throwing in anything we could think of - broccoli, carrots, oranges, a pear. It all came out frothy and creamy. I could marvel at this thing all day.

--- 6 ---

Please pray for J.T., a teenage boy at my high school who was just diagnosed with the same chronic circulatory condition that caused The Year I Was Sick. I talked to him and his mom on the phone yesterday, and learned that he's got a way worse case than I did.
Do I even know how to talk to teenage boys without sounding stupid? Will he even remember our random convo in which he was too tired to say much? Who knows. But I feel blessed to have been able to reach out to them.

--- 7 ---

The Anglophile and religious historian in me is totally stoked for the new Anglican Ordinariate. Fr. Dwight Longenecker, my favorite married-Anglican-cleric-turned-Catholic-priest, had a great post last week about what the Roman and Anglican traditions can give each other. I geeked out when he mentioned needlepoint kneelers and altar frontals. Also Our Lady of Walsingham, the patroness of the my college's Catholic chapel.

William and Mary likes to maintain its English roots. 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

2011: A Surprising Year in Three Acts

Last year's New Year's fireworks over Jackson Square in New Orleans 

If 2010 was the year of incessant travel for me, 2011 was a bit more unpredictable. I told God my plans, and He laughed. Then He laughed again and told me I needed to re-calibrate some things. In many ways the past few months have been like the infamous Year I Was Sick and had to drop out of college. On the other hand, I feel more "adult" than ever before. And not just because everyone and their brother (including my own dear Brother #1) got engaged. The year began with surprise trip to my BFF in Tampa, and things got more unexpected after that.

Act I: Grad School

In the first part of the year, I wrote my thesis on Episcopal vestment history and finished my master's degree in American material culture. I coped with the stress by reading a jillion cookbooks and buying dresses off eBay that required awkward alterations.

Grad school was either mind-numbingly lonely and boring, or totally exciting. When I wasn't burning the midnight oil with my computer on my lap, I was jaunting off to awesome field trips. My class poured molten pewter in Colonial Williamsburg, almost accidentally bid on furniture at Sotheby's, got a private tour of the White House and Senate floor, and took graduation photos next to a 1920s Rolls Royce. I'll always treasure the image of a professor sitting on the floor of the Met atrium, echoing off the ceiling as he literally exclaimed to a curator that she should hire me.

She didn't. Everyone in my class found jobs, except for me and a fellow far more brilliant than I. So I headed home to DC, but not as a downtown commuter like I had planned.

Act II: Unemployment

Moving back home was definitely a time warp. When I wasn't revisiting the haunts of my past in northern Virginia, I found semi-jobs in unexpected places. I was a babysitter/chauffer. I somehow got tangled up in homeschooling, despite my heathen public university cred.
Then just as The Beau was returning from England and I was about to join my VSC housemates for fun on the beach ... Surprise! My temperamental back blew up and I spent three weeks as an invalid. Just as I was recovering my family all took a last minute trip to visit our Chicago relatives because, hey, when else could we fit it in? The day after we got home, I interviewed for a part-time data entry job someone had offered my little brother because why the heck not.

Act III: The 9-5 World

To my astonishment, my interviewers did not laugh in my over-qualified face. Instead, they offered me a full time job. Starting in 48 hours. Ok sure! I can learn accounting; I have nothing else to do.

So I entered the "real" i.e. "not museums" world, where they hire people at warp speed and actually understand modern technology. To my surprise, life as an office drone is engaging, not soul-sucking. I don't yet feel like I am wasting my time and education. Co-workers have turned out to be some true friends. I'm relatively happy as a corporate employee- maybe advanced degrees in the liberal arts are indeed useless and overrated luxury items.

Who knows if I will feel the same way this time next year. At the rate Divine Providence is panning out, a few more unexpected twists wouldn't surprise me.